In case you need an excuse to have a cocktail on a Tuesday, National Rum Day is August 16th. In honor of rum, we’re mixing up a batch of this coffee cocktail. This recipe makes a pitcher and can be made in advance. Just combine the liqueur and rum (we used Kahlua and Sailor Jerry) with cold brewed coffee and store in a covered container in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, add the cola, pour over ice, and spoon a little heavy cream over the top of each glass.

Bubble tea, also known as boba, is a Taiwanese drink with many variations. The oldest version is sweetened iced tea with milk, shaken until frothy, sometimes poured over tapioca pearls. We decided to try this basic recipe with our Spiced Chai Black Tea, which is delicious sweetened with milk. Unlike store bought bubble tea, you can add as much or little sugar as you like, and any type of milk or creamer you prefer (coconut milk would be great). Have fun with this recipe and make it your own!

Make a strong cup of tea and let it cool. We used three teaspoons of loose leaf chai, brewed for about three and a half minutes. Cook your boba according to the instructions on the package. You can find tapioca pearls in different sizes and colors (even rainbow), all of which have a pretty neutral flavor, but the cooking time varies. Once the pearls are cooked and drained, submerge them in simple syrup and store in the fridge. When you’re ready to put it all together, add a scoop of the boba with syrup to the bottom of a glass. Add the milk, tea, and a splash of simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with a few ice cubes and shake well. Strain into your glass, add a fat straw, and enjoy!

If you’ve never had Vietnamese coffee, you have to try it. It’s shockingly good. I like my coffee black or with a little cream, but never sweetened so I can’t explain why I like this intensely sweet drink, but I love it, especially over ice. The sweeter the better. Coffee in Vietnam is typically Robusta, which has a reputation for being slightly bitter. Dark roast levels are common, as they minimize this bitterness. A big spoonful of sweetened condensed milk helps too. For this recipe we used our Super Dark Espresso, which contains some Robusta as most espresso blends do. We also used a traditional 6 ounce Vietnamese coffee filter called a phin. These stainless steel filters are inexpensive and easy to find online in several sizes. You can substitute brewed espresso or strong French Press coffee if you prefer.

Ingredients (1 serving)

2 tablespoons (or more to taste) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 heaping tablespoons ground coffee. A French press (coarse) grind works best

Hot water

Instructions

Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a heat safe glass or mug. Start with a little if you’re not sure how much sweetness you’ll like and stir more in if you prefer after brewing. Remove the interior screen from the filter (you may need to unscrew this manually). Add coffee to the filter and replace the inside screen, tightening the screw fully, the unscrewing it one full turn to give the coffee room to expand. Rest the filter on top of your mug or glass and add a splash of near-boiling water. Let this sit for half a minute, then fill the filter chamber with water. Cover the top of the filter (there’s a cap provided) and allow the coffee to drip through. Once the water has drained through, remove the filter, stir, and enjoy hot or pour over ice.

This entire process takes about five minutes. If the water drains through too quickly, your grind may be too course and you’ll have a watery cup of coffee. Too fine a grind will clog the filter. If you grind your own beans, play with the grind level until you find what brews and tastes best with your filter.

It might sound like there’s too much going on in this recipe, but there are only three ingredients in these simple popsicles. We came up with this idea to celebrate the return of summer and our Watermelon Mimosa Green Tea Blend, a flavored blend of Sencha and Jasmine green teas, blackberry leaves, and spearmint. Fresh watermelon juice adds color and sweetness without overpowering the green tea flavor.

Brew the tea using the standard steeping instructions (1 teaspoon per cup, brewed 2-3 minutes). Stir in the sugar while the tea is hot and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Blend the watermelon in a blender and pour through a mesh strainer. Add the strained watermelon juice to the tea and pour into popsicle molds. Set in the freezer for 1 1/2 hours, then insert the popsicle sticks. This will prevent the sticks from floating or moving in the mold. Freeze overnight or longer.

Curious and slightly afraid of kombucha? We decided to dive in and the results were pretty exciting. The key is to change the way you think about that gelatinous, stringy, rapidly reproducing mass that floats on top. That mysterious and slightly disgusting entity is what transforms ordinary tea into a refreshingly fruity and slightly fizzy fermented beverage with a multitude of (purported) health benefits. You can read about those here if you’re interested. To sum it all up, kombucha contains probiotics, which have been linked to digestive and immune system health. Some people drink it medicinally while many just love the taste.

This is a SCOBY. Yes it feels weird.

Bottled kombucha is available commercially, but it’s much cheaper to make your own. Plus, many commercial kombucha beverages are pasteurized to stop the fermentation process. This pasteurization process creates a more stable product but also kills the live bacteria. When you make your own, you can control the fermentation process yourself to achieve the flavor and fizz level you like.

What you’ll need

A SCOBY (or “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast”). You can buy them online or make your own from an existing batch of kombucha.

Glass 1 gallon jar with a wide mouth

Filtered water

Caffeinated tea (3 tablespoons)

1 cup sugar

Temperature gauge (optional)

Instructions

Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a small pot, then remove from heat. Add your tea. We used Nilgiri black tea and our t-sac filters, steeping the tea for about 5 minutes. Remove the tea leaves. Stir in a cup of sugar and add the sweetened tea to your glass container. Add cold, filtered water until the tea is about 4 inches from the top. Make sure the tea is at room temperature, between 68-88 degree F, before adding your SCOBY. Stir the mixture, add your SCOBY, and cover the top with a piece of cotton secured with a rubber band. Place the jar in a dark place with good air flow.

Your kombucha will be ready somewhere between 7-21 days. The longer it sits, the more sugar is converted to vinegar by your busy SCOBY, and the tarter the taste. Test it by carefully running a clean straw along the side and under the SCOBY. Then, with your finger covering the top of the straw, draw some liquid out and taste.

Safety tips

Make sure your hands and all of your brewing equipment is very clean before starting your batch, transferring or bottling your kombucha, and any time you handle your SCOBY (antibacterial soap is not recommended however). Store your fermenting batch away from other food, trash, or plants and within a 68-88 degree F range. Be on the lookout for anything that looks like mold. Strings and blobs are good (gross, I know) and fuzz is very bad. When in doubt, throw it out.

When your batch is done

With clean hands, remove your SCOBY, which will have a “baby” SCOBY or two growing on it. Separate them and place each in a jar, covering them with some liquid. Store them in the fridge for future use. Pour your kombucha into bottles with tight fitting lids, adding some fruit juice for flavor if you like. You can leave the bottles at room temperature for a day or two for extra fizziness (they will continue to ferment slightly), or stick them in the fridge. The flavor will continue to change over time, so if you like the taste, consume within a few days of bottling.

Ready for bottling. This is what it is supposed to look like. You’ll learn to love it.